Apparent skill game used as a bonus round on a gaming machine

ABSTRACT

An apparent game of skill or knowledge is used as a secondary event bonus game which is won by the player during the play of a conventional gaming machine. A gaming machine is played and, upon the occurrence of a predetermined outcome of the gaming machine, the player wins an opportunity to play the secondary event bonus round game. The computer controls of the electronic gaming machine select the amount of the award 8 to be won by the player during the play of the secondary event game. The player then plays out the secondary event game, which appears to the player to be a game of skill or knowledge. Regardless of how the player fares during the play of the secondary event game, the play of the secondary event game continues until the player has achieved the predetermined amount that was selected by the computer controls.

[0001] This application relates to a gaming machine and moreparticularly to a gaming machine in which a bonus round game appears tobe a game of skill or knowledge, but in fact, is a game of pure chancein which the outcome of the play of the gaming machine is randomlydetermined prior to the game of skill or knowledge being displayed onthe gaming machine.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] In the typical gaming casino, there are many types of casinogames. Electronic and mechanical gaming machines have a significantshare of the casino floor and can be generally grouped into twocategories: games of pure chance and games of skill.

[0003] Representative of a game of pure chance is the conventional slotmachine. After making a wager, the player activates the slot machine bypulling a handle or pressing a button. The reels of the slot machinespin and, when the reels stop spinning, the outcome is displayed to theplayer. Winning combinations result in a payout to the player based onthe amount of the player's wager. The player does not have to make adecisions during the play of the slot machine that may affect theoutcome of the spinning of the reels.

[0004] Representative of a game of skill is the conventional video drawpoker gaming machine. After making a wager, the player is dealt fivecards face up. The player selects which cards, if any, the player wishesto hold, the unheld cards are discarded and replacement cards are dealtfor the discarded cards. The final five card hand is analyzed todetermine its poker hand ranking and the player is paid for winningpoker hand rankings based on the amount of the player's wager. Becauseof the hold and draw decisions made by the player, the skill of theplayer can affect the success or not of the player during the play ofvideo draw poker.

[0005] There are also other electronic casino games that have beenintroduced into gaming casinos in recent years that use a “secondaryevent” bonus round to provide additional payouts to the player. In atypical secondary event bonus round game, the player first achieves someoutcome on the main game or first level of the gaming machine. Thisfirst level outcome that occurs during the play of the basic casino gamequalifies the player to play a secondary event bonus round in which theplayer engages in another chance event to determined the amount to bewon by the player.

[0006] One of the most popular secondary event bonus round games was“Wheel of Gold” marketed by Anchor Gaming Company. This game used athree reel slot machine as the main game or first level. If the playerlined up a “Spin” symbol on the pay line of the third reel, the playerqualified to go on to the secondary event bonus round. In the secondaryevent bonus round of the “Wheel of Gold” game, a rotating wheel similarto a Big Six Wheel is spun by the player who then receives the payoutshown on the pay line when the wheel stops rotating.

[0007] Other secondary event bonus round games have followed. On theODYSSEY multi-game machine marketed by Silicon Gaming Company, there isa secondary event game known as “Fort Knox” used in connection with areel slot machine game. Each time the player spins the reels of the slotmachine, a random number between 0 and 9 is selected. The random numberselected is compared to a pre-established ten digit “code number” andwhen the player has successfully matched all ten digits of the codenumber, the player is taken to a secondary event bonus round screen inwhich the player selects one of three doors behind which is a payoutamount awarded to the player.

[0008] Secondary event bonus round games have been added to video pokergames also. In a game known as “Million Coin Scratch Poker” marketed byBoyd Gaming Group, the main game is a standard video draw poker game.Whenever the player achieves a flush in the main video poker game, theplayer is paid for achieving a flush and then is taken to a secondscreen in which the secondary event game is displayed. The secondaryevent game involves the player selecting five cards from a fifty-twocard face down display; in effect, the player is playing a hand of fivecard stud poker. The player wins payouts depending on whether the playerachieves particular poker hands during this secondary event game of fivecard stud poker.

[0009] There is a need in the casino gaming business for new andcreative games, including new and creative secondary event bonus roundgames, to capture the interest of the gaming patron and stimulateadditional casino play.

[0010] It is an object of the present invention to provide a new form ofa secondary event casino game that gives the player the feel that he isplaying a game of skill or knowledge, but in fact the outcome of thesecondary event bonus round game has been predetermined.

[0011] It is a feature of the present invention to provide a secondaryevent bonus round game in which the player participates in an apparentgame of skill or knowledge, but the outcome of the secondary event gamehas been predetermined. At the commencement of the secondary event game,an outcome is randomly determined, i.e. the amount of the award to bemade to the player is randomly selected from a plurality of possibleawards. The player then engages in what appears to be a game of skill orknowledge which continues until the player has achieved a result thatawards the player the predetermined payout.

[0012] It is an advantage of the present invention that the player isallowed to enjoy the challenge and entertainment of participating in agame of skill or knowledge, but the award to the player is independentof the player's ability. Thus, players of lesser skill or knowledgelevel are not penalized, but are awarded at the same monetary level asthe players with higher skill or knowledge levels. Also, there is noincentive for a player to attempt to improperly manipulate the game ofskill or knowledge component of the present invention, since the awardto the player during the secondary event portion of the play of thegaming machine has been predetermined.

[0013] Other objects, features and advantages of the present inventionwill become apparent from a consideration of the following detaileddescription.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0014] The present invention comprises the feature of including anapparent game of skill or knowledge as a secondary event bonus roundgame which is won by the player during the play of a conventionalelectronic or mechanical gaming machine. A gaming machine, such as aslot machine, poker game machine, keno game machine, bingo game machineor other casino game machine is first played by the player and, upon theoccurrence of a predetermined outcome of the gaming machine, the playerwins an opportunity to play the secondary event bonus round game. At thecommencement of the secondary event bonus round game, the computercontrols of the electronic gaming machine select the amount of the awardto be won by the player during the play of the secondary event game. Theplayer then plays out the secondary event bonus round game, whichappears to the player to be a game of skill or knowledge. Regardless ofhow the player fares during the play of the secondary event bonus roundgame, the play of the secondary event bonus round game continues untilthe player has achieved the predetermined amount that was selected bythe computer controls. Thus, the player's skill or knowledge level orability during the play of the secondary event bonus round game has noaffect on the amount won by the player during the play of the secondaryevent bonus round game.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015]FIG. 1 shows a flow chart that depicts the steps involved in themethod of play of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016] The method of play of the present invention commences with aplayer making a wager and playing a conventional electronic ormechanical gaming machine. Any suitable electronic or mechanical gamingmachine can be used for the play of this basic game, such as a slotmachine, poker game machine, keno game machine, bingo game machine orother casino game machine. During the play of the video slot machine,the player will achieve winning and losing occurrences as isconventional.

[0017] During the play of the gaming machine, the player will achieveoccurrences which earn the player the opportunity to play a secondaryevent bonus round game. For example, the player could achieve acombination of symbols on a pay line of the video slot machine for whichthe player wins a chance to play a “Bonus Round”. Any suitablecombination of symbols could be used such as simply having one or more“Bonus Round” symbols stopping on a pay line.

[0018] Alternatively, the player could achieve a predeterminedcombination on a video poker machine, such as a Four-of-a-Kind, thatwould also award the player a bonus round. Similar occurrences duringthe play keno, bingo or other casino gaming machines could also awardthe player a bonus round of play.

[0019] When the player wins the chance to play the secondary event game,the computer controls randomly select, from a pool of possible awards,the amount of the award to be won by the player during this secondaryevent game. This amount is selected before the player begins playing thesecondary event game. Unlike prior secondary event games that have beenoffered to players on previous gaming machines, the amount to be won bythe player in the secondary event game of the present invention ispredetermined and is independent of any actions by the player during theplay of the secondary event game.

[0020] For example, the player achieves a “Bonus Round” symbol on a payline of the video slot machine and the player wins a chance to play the“Bonus Round”. The computer controls of the video slot machine thenrandomly select 500 coins as the amount to be won by the player duringthe secondary event game and this selection of 500 coins is made beforethe player begins to play the “Bonus Round”.

[0021] The “Bonus Round” then starts. The player participates in whatappears to be a game of skill or knowledge, such as answering a seriesof trivia questions. The video screen display of the gaming machinedisplays a group of multiple choice questions in which the playerselects one answer from a group of answers by using the buttons on thegaming machine or by touching the selected answer on the video screenwhich uses touch screen technology. The player could be asked fivequestions and each answer could be worth 100 coins.

[0022] If the player gets all five questions right, the player wins the500 coins which have been preselected as the amount to be won by theplayer during this secondary event game “Bonus Round”. Because theplayer has earned the full amount of 500 coins that had been preselectedby the computer controls of the gaming machine to be won by the playerduring the “Bonus Round”, the secondary event game would be over at thispoint. The amount won by the player is paid to the player by dispensingcoins directly from a coin hopper into a payout tray on the gamingmachine, or by accruing credits to the player on a credit meter of thegaming machine or in any other conventional manner of paying the player.

[0023] In the event that the player does not get all five of the triviaquestions correct, the player could then be asked more trivia questionsuntil the player has five correct answers at which point the playerappears to have earned the 500 credits. In fact the player's skill orknowledge level in answering the trivia questions is irrelevant sincethe gaming machine will continue to ask the player trivia questionsuntil the player has achieved a sufficient number of correct answers toearn the predetermined amount of 500 coins as his award for the “BonusRound”.

[0024] Alternatively, the player could be limited to a fixed number ofquestions to earn the 500 credits. If the player has not earned theentire 500 credits after the fixed number of questions have been asked,then the player could be given the chance to play a consolation round ofa different secondary event game. During the consolation round, theplayer would win the necessary additional award to bring his total awardduring the secondary event game up to the predetermined amount of 500coins.

[0025] For example, the player could get three questions correct duringthe trivia game and earn 300 coins. Since the player is still 200 coinsshort of winning the predetermined amount of 500 coins, the player wouldthen be presented with a slot machine game. The player would then playthe slot machine game for one or more spins of the reels until theplayer has achieved a total award of 500 coins.

[0026] Other methods of displaying this secondary event game to theplayer may be used. For example, suppose the computer controls randomlyselect 1200 coins as the amount to be awarded to the player during thesecondary event game. The player is then asked four trivia questions.The value of each correct answer is not shown to the player until afterthe player has answered all four questions. This allows the computercontrols of the gaming machine to adjust the value of each correctanswer so that the total award to the player is 1200 coins regardless ofthe number of correct answers selected by the player.

[0027] If the player gets four correct answers, then each correct answeris shown as being worth 300 coins. If the player gets three correctanswers, then each correct answer is shown as being worth 400 coins. Ifthe player gets two correct answers, then each correct answer is shownas being worth 600 coins. If the player gets only one correct answer,then each correct answer is shown as being worth 1200 coins.

[0028] If the player is the village idiot and gets zero correct answers,then the player can be awarded a booby prize in the amount of 1200 coinsfor being qualified to fill the “idiot” vacancy available at the nearestvillage. Alternatively, for no correct answers, the player can be showna video screen having a plurality of prize locations. Regardless of theprize location selected by the player, the amount of the prize is 1200coins which corresponds to the award preselected by the computercontrols of the gaming machine before the player begins play of thesecondary event game.

[0029] The examples discussed above are only representative of the manyways that the amount of the preselected award can be displayed to theplayer during the secondary event game “Bonus Round”. The method of thepresent invention allows the player to compete in an apparent game ofskill or knowledge and yet still win the randomly selected awardpreselected by the computer controls of the gaming machine before thestart of the secondary event game “Bonus Round”.

[0030]FIG. 1 shows a flow chart that depicts graphically the stepsinvolved in the present invention.

[0031] While the invention has been illustrated with respect to severalspecific embodiments thereof, these embodiments should be considered asillustrative rather than limiting. Various modifications and additionsmay be made and will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of playing a gaming machine in which abonus round includes an apparent game of skill or knowledge comprising:a) a player making a wager to play the gaming machine; b) activating thegaming machine to cause a game of chance to occur; c) determining anoutcome of the game of chance; d) if the outcome awards the player withthe bonus round, selecting an amount of a bonus payout to be paid to theplayer during the bonus round; and e) allowing the player to participatein the apparent game of skill or knowledge at the end of which theplayer receives the bonus payout.